... Well here it is, Chapter 2. I stared at this chapter for a while… I was going to rewrite a good chunk of it. I was going to cut it down, but I ended up deciding that it was just more important to get the story going. So, here it is, and it is long. Hope you enjoy. ...

Chapter 2

Good Morning All

The traffic had been abnormally light and, because of that, the drive had taken half of the normal twenty minutes. He pulled into his usual parking space to the front of the school near the end of the row. Glancing at the watch on his left wrist he saw it was only 8:03. He'd have some time to review before the bell at around 8:26. He killed the engine and stepped out of the car noting that he'd also beat most of the early buses and that none of his friend's cars were there yet either. There were, however, a few groups of students clustered about the top of the stairs or by the doors. After grabbing his binder from the back seat and locking the car he proceeded towards the entrance.

A few students looked up from their conversations to stare at him, and he thought he heard more than one comment about his choice of dress, but he simply returned their stares with a colder one of his own until they broke eye contact, as they almost always did. He pulled on the door and stepped inside.

South Kamloops Secondary School (SKSS) had actually originally been two separate schools John Peterson (J.P.) and Kamloops Secondary School (KSS). A number of years ago, however, the schools had amalgamated even though the two school buildings were not attached. This created an interesting situation where some of a student's classes might be in one building and some classes in the other. Hence one would have to walk up or down the hill to the other school. Devon, however, had been lucky as all his classes were in the lower KSS building.

He walked past the gym entrance and turned left to head down the main hall past the office and library. He weaved his way through the huddles of students still returning their stares and even those of a few teacher's, though he always nodded politely and called a "good morning" to a few, until he came to his locker.

46-28-46 and he swung the door open. He hung his trench coat inside and, grabbing his math text, headed back the way he had come to the library. Vaguely he become aware that there seemed to be fewer students this morning, but then put it down to his earliness.

Once in the library he sat at an empty table and proceeded to flip aimlessly through his binder as his headphones quietly played the mellow, depressing tune of "Leave Me Here" by "Cult of Luna." He kept the volume low enough to hear the sounds of conversation around him and when he heard the scrape of a chair's metal legs against the table he looked up. Capone nodded to him as he took a seat, and Devon brushed the headphones from his ears and nodded back to his friend.

Capone, whose first name was, in fact, Adam, though he was usually referred to as Capone, his last name, was one of Devon's three close friends. Devon didn't keep acquaintances, and in their own way each of his friends was equally as "weird" as another.

Capone was just seventeen, as they all were, and the youngest after Devon. He was around five foot six, something like 130 lbs, with short, jelled, curly black hair, brown eyes, and rather hawk like features. He was wearing a puffy black coat, a baby blue sweater, Mickey Mouse watch, brown corded pants, and slip on brown shoes.

"Hey," he said simply in his deep voice.

"Hey. Sup, Cap?" Devon replied.

"Not much. Where's Chris and Brodie?" he asked pulling out his silver Discman.

The device, Devon knew, was likely to be playing rap, a music genre that Devon cared the least for with the exception of country even though Devon did, in fact, listen to and enjoy most types of music.

Looking back down at his binder Devon answered absentmindedly, "Brodie decided not to do our regular carpool and bring his own car today and Chris is, of course, not here yet."

"Brodie should be here soon though?"

"Mhmm," Devon responded simply.

"Did you hear all those sirens today?"

"Huh?" Devon asked looking up.

"Those sirens downtown?"

Devon shook his head.

"Probably a fire or something…" Capone muttered.

Devon shrugged, "Or something." Then nodding over to Capone, "How's Cody?" he asked referring to his friend's internet boyfriend.

He could still remember clearly when Capone had "come out of the closet" just under a year ago.

"Good," replied Capone nodding.

"Hey, you notice that there seems to be less people this morning?" Devon asked leaning forward.

Brodie's husky voice rose from behind, "Devon!" And Devon felt his friend slap him on the back before continuing, "Oh-ho! Capone! How's it going Capone?" he asked taking a seat.

"Good Brodie," Capone said with a chuckle before looking back over to Devon. "No, I wasn't really paying attention," he said answering the earlier question.

"What's that guys?" Brodie asked.

"Oh, nothing Brodie. What's up?" Devon asked with a nod to his friend.

"Nuthin. Where's Chris?" he asked

"Late," Devon replied.

"Late," Brodie laughed.

Brodie was just taller than Devon's five foot ten, was around 170 lbs, had slightly curly brown hair that hung down towards the back, blue eyes, a tall bright face, and was easily the most well built and strongest of any of them. Traditionally he played a lot of sports, the main one being hockey, however, he had seriously injured his knee near the end of last year's hockey season and was awaiting various surgeries that would allow him to play competitively again because, though he did not have any kind of limp and still took PE as one of his classes, he had to be extremely careful and would occasionally complain about the pain it caused him. He wore his classic yellow hoody, his favourite because the company's name was spelled the same as his and was displayed on the tightening strings at the neck, a just visible green jersey beneath, beige pants, and a pair of brown sneakers.

"Chris was over at my house last night," Brodie said.

"What? Why?" Capone asked looking up from his Discman.

"To see Brittany, duh. Why else would he be there on a school night?" Devon responded, agitated. "So that's why he wasn't at martial arts last night, eh?"

Brodie shrugged. "Guess so yeah…"

"He's testing for his apprentice black soon too," Devon said shaking his head.

"Did you see the Canucks game last night," Brodie asked looking over at Devon.

"Yeah in Boston… That sucked," Devon replied, again feeling the tang of last nights defeat.

"Oh! They lost…" Brodie said then looked over at Capone. "They lost, Capone. They lost," he said shaking the sleeve of Capone's coat. "In the third period! Everyone was so mad."

"What at your house?" Devon asked.

"Well, yeah… and in Boston."

"But the home team won…" Devon replied, his brow furrowing.

Brodie shrugged.

"I really thought we had that one, man…" Devon said.

"I know! Oh…" Brodie looked down at his backpack for a moment. "Hey, what time is it?"

Devon glanced down at his digital. "Eight-twenty-four," he said.

"Kay I should get going 'cuz I have the top school."

Devon and Capone nodded up at him as he slung his backpack and headed off. "See yuh," they said in unison.

Devon looked back at Capone with a glare, and Capone gave a high-pitched chuckle.

The bell rang a minute or so later and Devon folded his binder closed and stood to wait for Capone. As people began to filter out of the library Devon thought, not for the first time, what an odd group they made.

"God, Capone you're so slow," Devon said with a mocking smile.

"Shut up. I am not," Capone replied.

They made their way back through the crowds of people in the direction of Devon's locker, and Devon nodded and gave a slight wave as Capone strolled into his class. Devon continued down another door before entering his own class and sat at his usual desk in the back left corner. No one else was there yet, and he gazed out the window at the throngs of people making their way in and out of the parking lot doors as one of his fingers absently tapped his desk to another "Cradle of Filth" tune.

The heavy blanket of sleep still hung over Chris, and he welcomed the fleeting fragments of blissful sleep even as they slowly slipped away. Following the last of the reluctant students and the first of the latecomers he reached out for the handle of the entrance to the school he both hated and loved. His thoughts, however, barely brushed the unregretted pains of the past, and, instead, his mind skipped ahead to the present, the future, and to the face of the girl that made rising from bed that much easier.

Inside, a small lingering group parted to allow him by, and he continued his unhurried pace towards his class.

Chris was rather tall, about six foot two, and occasionally wished he were, perhaps, two inches shorter. He was around 180 lbs with blue-green eyes, soft features, and wispy, short, dark brown, hair. He wore a close fitting black, polyester jacket, which Devon often referred to as his "Hitler jacket," a black shirt with the red lettering of the lesser known punk band "a static lullaby" set against a single gnarled leafless tree, a black studded wristband watch on his right wrist, grey jeans with a thick black belt, and large grey hiking boots.

He turned into his class a few seconds before the second bell, and his gaze fell on Devon, who was obviously lost in thought and music as he temporarily scarred something into his hand with his mechanical pencil. Chris walked over to sit in the usual desk to the front of Devon, but waited a few moments so as not to break his friend's trance. After a few moments, he turned sideways in the desk to face Devon, who glanced up with a nod and deftly twirled his pencil a few circuits through his fingers before leaning back and sliding the left headphone from his ear.

"Greetings," he said breaking the comfortable silence.

"Eh, greetings," Chris replied.

"How goes it?" Devon asked using his friend's term.

"It goes," Chris replied completing the familiar lines.

"You were at Brodie's last night, eh?"

"Yeah. You know she's really starting to get me into her psychology stuff I was telling you about."

9:47am

Capone had long since disregarded the constant drone of the teacher's voice, and he stared sulkily out the window in boredom. A few distant shouts could be heard from somewhere, and Capone heard the faint squeal of rubber on pavement. A ways off, past the immediate parking lot outside the window, a tall student walked unsteadily.

Thud!

It happened so fast that it took Capone a few moments to register. The staggering figure had just stepped out onto the quiet school-side road when a grey blur of a car had struck it, sending the figure up and over the hood and landing in an unmoving heap on the pavement. The car didn't miss a beat and continued down the hill at its ungodly speed.

"Wo!" Capone said loudly with a flinch.

A few students turned in their desks to follow his gaze but none noticed the distant motionless heap on the pavement, instead they only saw another student, this one directly outside the window and heading past towards one of the school doors, his head bobbing slightly to music played through a pair of white ear buds. He seemed oblivious to the apparent accident that had just occurred.

"What?" one of Capone's classmates asked with a nod.

At the front of the room the teacher paused in mid-sentence to analyze the disruption to the back of the class.

Another teen came into view from the right of Capone's window. His dark cloths looked strangely wet and appeared to be of a perhaps reddish tinge. The head-bobbing student moved to slide past him, but the darkly clothed teen made a grab for him.

"Hey, what the fuck pal?" the first student yelled shoving the other away.

The teen leapt back at him with some kind of strange snarl.

"Oh, what the fuck?" someone said from behind Capone.

The sudden ferociousness of the attack surprised the first student and he fell back onto pavement with his savage aggressor on top.

"Holy shit! Someone's getting their ass kicked," someone else shouted at Capone's left, and that was when Capone noticed that the body in the street had disappeared.

... Thank you for reading! The part I was thinking of rewriting was "Chris's Intro" but like I said I think the story just needs to get moving now, but maybe I'll go back and do that later. Who knows? Anyways I can promise you some action in the next chapter, and I'm aiming to get at least that one out to you guys within a week. However, I am crazy busy this week so no promises. Comments/Revs. are always appreciated. Thanks. ...